Henry Cow's and Art Bears' veteran drummer Chris Cutler (born in the USA but raised in Britain) became a leading figure of the "creative" scene of the 1980s, bridging the gap between progressive-rock and the new wave, between the intellectual British aesthetics and the punk American aesthetics. Later on, he also bridged the gap between rock and free-jazz and the avantgarde. A renaissance man, Cutler collaborated with countless talents of at least three generations, briefly settling in New York to familiarize with the American intelligentsia, accompanying David Thomas and enrolling in Pere Ubu.

His first move was to recreate the fertile ground of Art Bears with a new Anglo-German group, the Cassiber: Christoph Anders on vocals, Alfred Harth on horns, Heiner Goebbels on keyboards and violin, and himself on percussions and electronics. The kaleidoscopic double 45-RPM album Man Or Monkey (Riskant, 1983) works as a summary of the entire progressive-rock tradition. Tracks: Not Me, Red Shadow, Chor Der Gefangenen, Our Colourful Culture, O Cure Me, This Core, Man or Monkey, Django Vergibt, Die Verunreinigung Des Flusses Ist Gerade Noch Ertraglich, Sag Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind.

Beauty and the Beast (ReR, 1984) was a more conventional statement. Harth left Cassiber before Perfect Worlds (Riskant, 1986), graced by Cutler's most erudite lyrics. A Face We All Know (ReR, 1990), recorded in 1988 and containing Rene` Lussier's Gut, increased the doses of samples and electronics. The last 1992 concerts were collected on Live In Tokyo (ReR, 1997).

In the meantime, Cutler was also drumming for Lindsay Cooper in the News From Babel, for Rene` Lussier's Les Quatre Guitaristes De L'apocalypso, and performing live with Fred Frith.

Domestic Stories (ReR, 1993), a collaboration with Lutz Glandien on samplers and computers (the music is by Glandien); P53 (ReR, 1995), a live group improvisation with Lutz Glandien, Otomo Yoshihide and pianists Marie Goyette and Zymunt Krauze; Three Pieces Suite (ReR, 1996), a collaboration with Jean Derome and Rene` Lussier (in particular Cold Storage); Preacher In Naked Chase Guilty (1995), an improvisation with electronic musician Thomas Dimuzio and Chuck Vrtacek; and Shark (ReR, 1996), two extended jams with harpist Zeena Parkins (QEH, Link), saw Cutler get progressively more absorbed into processes of electronic sound production and manipulation.

Cutler was also actively forming new groups: the (Ec) Nudes, which released Vanishing Point (ReR, 1994), were a trio with vocalist Amy Denio and guitarist Wadi Gysi; the Science Group, which released A Mere Coincidence (ReR, 1999), were Chris Cutler on drums and electronics, Amy Denio on vocals, Bob Drake on bass, Fred Frith on guitar, Claudio Puntin on clarinet, Stevan Tickmayer on keyboards.

Quake (ReR, 1999) is another collaboration with Tom Dimuzio.

Twice Around the Earth (ReR, 2005) and There & Back Again (ReR, 2007) collect more or less random collages of recordings collected by Cutler for his radio broadcasts. The source material ranges from "plunderphonics" to domestic noises to traffic to casual conversations.

The Year of the Dragon (ReR, 2012) was a collaboration with guitarist Steve MacLean and a vocalist.

The duo Steve MacLean/Chris Cutler recorded The Year of the Dragon (ReR, 2012).

The Way It Was: Live Recordings And Studio Sketches 1985-92 (ReR, 2012) collewcts Cassiber's archival material.

Geoff Leigh (flute, sax and electronics), John Greaves (bass and grand piano) and Chris Cutler (percussion) formed Artaud Beats that also included Yumi Hara on piano, clavichord and synth. The project debuted with Live At Avantgarde Festival (august 2009), followed by the more mature Logos (ReR, 2015).